ACADEMIC LANGUAGE FUNCTION A RESOURCE FOR DEVELOPING ACADEMIC LANGUAGE FOR ALL STUDENTS IN ALL CONTENT AREAS District-Wide Academic Support Teams Sweetwater District-Wide Academic Support Teams, October 2010 *( from K. Kinsella) 1 Guiding Questions from Building Academic Language (Zwiers): What is academic language, how can I build it as I teach content? How can I adapt my curriculum and assessment to build on the cultural and linguistic strengths of my students? How can I get students to think together to co-construct meaning; rather than just study to memorize? How can I build language skills for complex reading and writing? How can I assess thinking skills and language proficiency in useful ways? How can I most efficiently apprentice students into thinking and talking like experts in my discipline? Excerpts from “English Language Development: Implementation at Grades Six Through Twelve” (Dutro and Kinsella) Secondary education is a complex endeavor. Fast-paced schedules, specialized courses, rigorous content, highstaked assessment, and variety of instructional methods place a high demand on students. For students, who must navigate these complexities while acquiring [academic] English, the demands intensify significantly (Dutro and Levy 2008). Academic Language Development in Core Content Although there are many definitions of academic English, there are agreed-upon commonalities. According to various sources cited by Saunders and Goldenberg, “Academic language refers to the specialized vocabulary, grammar, discourse/ textual, and functional skills associated with academic instruction and mastery of academic materials and tasks”. Academic language is significantly different from the informal speech student use outside the classroom. The language of schooling includes everyday words (e.g. reason, understand), general academic vocabulary that cuts across subject areas (e.g. respond, category), and specialized terms (e.g. polygon, onomatopoeia) (Feldman and Kinsella 2008). Written and spoken classroom discourse is also characterized by academic text structures and grammatical complexity (Bailey 2007: Scarcella 2003; Schlepegrell 2004; Wong Fillmore and Snow 2000). Academic English requires sufficient background knowledge to apply general knowledge of words differently across subject areas. For example, division and product have strikingly different meanings in mathematics than they so in social studies or everyday use. Similarly, a student might encounter the term factor in a mathematics class (process) and later that same day in a discussion of economics (issue). Academic English also entails specialized knowledge of concepts in particular subject areas. Sweetwater District-Wide Academic Support Teams, October 2010 Building Functional Language Mastery of language and syntactic features allows students’ full participation in academics by enabling them to put ideas together in a wide range of ways. Mastery includes learning the breadth of language patterns to communicate relationships between ideas: to explain, describe, compare, and contrast, summarize, generalize, express, cause-and-effect relationships, sequences, and so on. The intentional teaching of language structuresthe “mortar”- enables Students to internalize the patterns needed to express concepts, ideas, and thinking. Teaching English from the perspective of language functions helps to identify the language demands of a specific academic task (describing, sequencing events, comparing attributes) and content concepts (methods of communication, narrative events). The benefits of learning to use the language functions such as comparing, for example, extend beyond a given task because once Students know how to compare, they can apply that skill to a range of contexts across content areas. Students practice and extend their language skills for comparing by applying it in different ways. Increasing competence in any language function obligates the speaker or writer to use increasingly complex sentence structures. Using this approach, learning interesting content- and how to talk and write about that interesting content- is not delayed until more advanced levels of proficiency are reached. Academic language is developed from the beginning stages of second language learning. Competence in a range of functions equips students to participate in content instruction and supports academic language proficiency. Language becomes a vehicle, rather than a barrier, to learning. *( from K. Kinsella) 2 Academic Language Academic Language can be defined as 1) the language used in the classroom and workplace, 2) the language of text, 3) the language of assessments, 4) the language of academic success and 5) the language of power. Informal Language Academic Language repetition of words variety of words, more sophisticated vocabulary sentences start with “and” or “but” sentences start with transition words, such as “however”, “moreover”, and “in addition” use of slang such as “dude”, “whatever”, and “like” replaces slang with accurate descriptors appropriate for use in casual, social settings appropriate for use in all academic and work place settings can vary greatly by ethnicity, region, gender, age common language register for all Academic Language consists of academic vocabulary and is used in academic discourse. Academic Vocabulary The vocabulary critical to understanding the concepts of the content taught in schools. Academic vocabulary includes content related vocabulary and high frequency academic words such as Bloom’s verbs. Academic Discourse Academic discourse provides students with the language tools (vocabulary and syntax) necessary to competently discuss the topic using complete sentences. Structured dialogue in the form of “sentence stems” provides a scaffold for students to appropriate academic language in meaningful contexts. “BRICKS” “MORTAR” SUHSD/Special Services/CJ/RR Sweetwater District-Wide Academic Support Teams, October 2010 *( from K. Kinsella) 3 ACADEMIC LANGUAGE FUNCTION Student uses language to: Observe and explore the environment, acquire information, inquire Examples: Uses who, what, when, where, and how to gather information Strategies: Quick-write, Think Pair Share, Novel Ideas, 5 W’s and How, Question Creation , Chart (Q-Chart) Cue Words: in other words, that is to say, according to, specifically, who, what, when, where, why, how Language Frames & Graphic Organizers: Language of Inquiry/Seeking Information I wonder why . . . How does . . . work? I’d like to ask you about . . . Am I correct in assuming that . . .? Could you expand a little bit on what you said about . . . ? Could you be more specific about . . .? Something else I’d like to know is . . . If I have understood you correctly, your point is that . . . I didn’t understand what you said about . . . I’m sorry, could you repeat what you said about . . . ? Sorry, but I’m not quite clear on . . . Expressing an Opinion* I think/believe that . . . In my opinion, . . . Based on my experience, I think . . . Soliciting a Response* What do you think? We haven’t heard from you yet. Do you agree? What answer did you get? Paraphrasing* So you are saying that . . . In other words, you think . . . What I hear you saying is . . . Sweetwater District-Wide Academic Support Teams, October 2010 *( from K. Kinsella) 4 ACADEMIC LANGUAGE FUNCTION Student uses language to: Identify, report or describe information Examples: Recount information presented by teacher or text; retell a story or personal experience Strategies: Novel Ideas Only, Writing Frames Cue Words: in short, in summary, to sum up, finally, all in all, in conclusion Language Frames & Graphic Organizers: Language of Summarizing On the whole… Basically he/she is saying that…. In this text, the author argues that…. To support the main claim, the author provides evidence that suggests that…. Language of Informing The advantages of ____ outweigh the disadvantages of ____ insofar as… The statistics are misleading because they do/not show… These [facts/reasons/data] strongly suggest that… Yet some argue strongly that…. Reporting a Partner’s [or anyone’s] Idea* ____ indicated that…. ____ pointed out to me that…. Main Idea/ Supporting ideas/Conclusion ____ emphasized that… ____ concluded that…. Sweetwater District-Wide Academic Support Teams, October 2010 *( from K. Kinsella) 5 ACADEMIC LANGUAGE FUNCTION Student uses language to: Describe similarities and differences in objects or ideas Examples: Make/explain a graphic organizer to show similarities and contrasts; Write in bullet or paragraph format to specify similarities / differences; Categorizing to organize terms or ideas; Verbal clarification of similarities or differences through questioning or pairing activities. Strategies: Categories on a wall, Content Curiosities (Survey), Jigsaw Project Cue Words: likewise, however, nevertheless, despite, on the other hand, on the contrary, contrary to…, conversely, rather, still Language Frames & Graphic Organizers: Language of Comparing & Contrasting One similarity/difference between [subject 1] and [subject 2] is …. [Subject 1] and [subject 2] are similar because they both…. [Subject 1] and [subject 2] are rather different because while [subject 1] has _______, [subject 2] has __________. Whereas [subject 1] is ... , [subject 2] is ... [Subject 1] is …. Similarly / In contrast, [subject 2] is …. Language of Agreeing* My idea/answer/explanation is similar to/related to… I agree with (a person) that… My idea builds upon (a person’s) idea… I don’t agree with you because… Sweetwater District-Wide Academic Support Teams, October 2010 *( from K. Kinsella) 6 ACADEMIC LANGUAGE FUNCTION Student uses language to: sequence objects, ideas, or events. Examples: Describe / make a timeline, Continuum, Cycle, Narrative sequence Strategies: Mix and match, Categories on a wall, Collaborative Poster Cue Words: at which point, at this time, simultaneously, subsequently Language Frames & Graphic Organizers: Language of Sequencing First, … and second, … Meanwhile, the ___ appeared to be … While [subject 1] was …, [subject 2] was simultaneously/concurrently… Finally ___ proceeded to… Consequently the ____ began to … Previously, ____ had decided to … Following this event, … Initially …. Some time later….. After … the next step is/was to… What occurred/happened prior to… was that… In the first stage/phase, …. The transition between stages __ and __ can be described as…. Sweetwater District-Wide Academic Support Teams, October 2010 *( from K. Kinsella) 7 ACADEMIC LANGUAGE FUNCTION Student uses language to: Group objects or ideas according to their characteristics. It is critical to identify the rules that govern class or category membership. Examples: describe organizing principle(s), explain why A is an example and B is not, Strategies: Collaborative poster, categories on a wall, word sorts, sort and label Cue Words: sort, categorize, select, belongs to, fits into, features, traits, qualities Language Frames & Graphic Organizers: Language of Classifying ____ consists of [quantity] categories. The [quantity] categories of ____ are ____, ____, and ___. We can classify _____ according to… _____ and ______ are types of … because…. The most salient characteristic(s) of this group is/are… An appropriate name for this group is … owing to the fact that they all… _____correlates to_____ insofar as…. These _____ are arranged according to…. Sweetwater District-Wide Academic Support Teams, October 2010 *( from K. Kinsella) 8 ACADEMIC LANGUAGE FUNCTION Student uses language to: Separate whole into parts, identify relationships and patterns Examples: Describe parts, features, or main idea of information Strategies: Analysis Pizza, Collaborative poster, word sorts, sort and label, dissecting, various lab activities Cue Words: examine, scrutinize, break down, dissect, investigate, determine, elements Language Frames & Graphic Organizers: Language of Analysis We can interpret _____ as …. Given the evidence, we can deduce that… ______ can be differentiated from _______ based on… After a thorough analysis of the evidence, we conclude that…. This ____ is significant because… After careful examination of… it appears that… _____is related to _____ insofar as…. ___ and ____ are connected by….. This is important because… We can draw parallels between ____ and the world/other texts/self because…. Sweetwater District-Wide Academic Support Teams, October 2010 *( from K. Kinsella) 9 ACADEMIC LANGUAGE FUNCTION Student uses language to: make inferences, predict implications, hypothesize. Examples: Describe reasoning process (inductive or deductive); Generate hypotheses to suggest causes or outcomes; Describe observations using multiple senses Strategies: Guess and check, Scientific method, Seeking patterns, Using visuals and structure of a text to predict topic, Pre-reading strategies Cue Words: guess, conclude that…, estimate, speculate, draw a conclusion, believe, due to, since, in light of Language Frames & Graphic Organizers: Language of Prediction and Hypothesis I predict / imagine that… Given …, I hypothesize that … If I use …then I predict…will happen. Based on past results, I predict… I deduced …. after analyzing ______ further. I discerned that_________ because…. I foresee________ because…. I prognosticate…… because I know….. Language of Inference Based on … I infer that … I infer that… based on… My conjecture on ____ is…. I anticipate that… Sweetwater District-Wide Academic Support Teams, October 2010 *( from K. Kinsella) 10 ACADEMIC LANGUAGE FUNCTION Student uses language to: Give reasons for an action, decision, point of view; convince others Examples: Tell why A is important and give evidence in support of a position. Strategies: Socratic Seminar, Think-Pair Share, Anticipatory Chart with Round Robin, Rally-Robin Debate, Four Corners with justification, Error Analysis Cue Words: defend, show, rationalize, think, feel, because of, for this reason, due to, right, argue, convince, influence, sway, urge, claim, beliefs, support, evidence, appeal, should, must, ought to, have to, furthermore, moreover, clearly Language Frames & Graphic Organizers: Language of Justification I believe this because… My primary reason for thinking so is… Perhaps the most convincing reason for this is… Language of Persuasion Based on the evidence presented so far, I believe that… Although some people claim that…, opponents argue that…. It is vital to consider… The advantages of ____ outweigh the disadvantages of ____ insofar as… The statistics are misleading because they do/not show… These [facts/reasons/data] strongly suggest that… Yet some argue strongly that…. T-Chart: Opinion – Reason Sweetwater District-Wide Academic Support Teams, October 2010 Spider Web/Map listing topic/idea and reasons on “branches” *( from K. Kinsella) 11 ACADEMIC LANGUAGE FUNCTION Student uses language to: Define and represent a problem; determine a solution, Examples: Describe the problem solving process or procedures; re-state the problem in their own words Strategies: Collaborative Poster, Sage-Scribe, Mix and Match, Manipulatives, Creating a Mnemonic, Mathematically Speaking (____ally Speaking), Fold-ables, Pass the Envelope, Gallery Walk, Reciprocal Teaching, Create- Exchange- Access, Quiz-Quiz Trade Cue Words: solve, figure out, think about, find, conflict, difficult question, situation Language Frames & Graphic Organizers: Language of Describing Problems A way of thinking about solving this problem is… In order to solve this problem we must first/ initially…. This problem is similar to…. We need to identify… One way to visualize this problem is… Let’s break this into parts. First, ... Another way of looking at this problem is… The most important thing to remember in this problem is… In order to solve this problem we will need to know… Language of Explaining Solutions A diagram or symbol that might represent this solution is… We know our solution is correct because…. The solution to this problem is… I know I have solved the problem because… The solution to this problem will require…. A critical element of the solution to this problem is… Sweetwater District-Wide Academic Support Teams, October 2010 *( from K. Kinsella) 12 ACADEMIC LANGUAGE FUNCTION Student uses language to: Combine or integrate ideas to form a whole group Examples: Summarize information; incorporate new information Strategies: Allow students to create their own problem, Collaborative Poster, Compare- Contrast Matrix, Creating a Mnemonic, ThINK- Pair Share, Writing Summaries, Reports, Mathematically Speaking, Fold-ables, Analysis Pizza, Jigsaw, Pass the Envelope, Create- Exchange- Access, Window Pane Cue Words: combine, merge, form, put together, synthesis, combination Language Frames & Graphic Organizers: Acknowledging Ideas* My idea is similar to/related to ________’s idea. I agree/disagree with ________that . . . My idea builds upon _______’s idea. As ____already mentioned… Language of Synthesizing The main point(s) is/ are… The point that ______ makes is related to ______ in that….. The significance of ______ is….. From my perspective, ______ means….. The concept of _____ can be expressed as….. Our conclusion is a synthesis of _____ and ________. I feel that _____ and _____’s viewpoints are related in that…. My visual represents a synthesis of ____ and ____ because…. While creating _____, I built upon ……… Sweetwater District-Wide Academic Support Teams, October 2010 *( from K. Kinsella) 13 ACADEMIC LANGUAGE FUNCTION Student uses language to: assess and verify with of an object, idea or decision. Examples: Identify criteria, Explain priorities, Indicate reasons for judgment, Confirm truth Strategies: Thumbs up/down, Colored cards (green – agree; red – disagree), Fist of 5 (level of agreement), Quickwrite Cue Words: Judge, critique, assess, assessment, value, worth, based on, judgment, criteria, favorable, unfavorable, reason, evaluate, evaluation, features Language Frames & Graphic Organizers: Language of Evaluating Based on … I determined that… _______’s judgment of … was … because … The critique of ______ was favorable/unfavorable because … We/They judge _______ to be ______ because …. We/I evaluated _______ on the following criteria … I assess that…. After inspecting…. I have determined… After carefully scrutinizing_______ I believe that…. My interpretation of_____ is… When ranking its importance, I feel that… because… Sweetwater District-Wide Academic Support Teams, October 2010 *( from K. Kinsella) 14 Sweetwater District-Wide Academic Support Teams, October 2010 *( from K. Kinsella) 15 ACADEMIC LANGUAGE FUNCTION Student uses language to: Describe why and how relationships and patterns exist between events, ideas, processes, problems; Identify consequences that led to the outcome Examples: Make a graphic organizer to define the events leading up to the outcome or the possible outcomes based on a particular cause Strategies: 1) Categories on a Wall/Sort and Label-Categories are provided and students develop list or students develop own categories based on given list; 2) Mix-n-Match cards-Students work in groups to match causes with effects; 3) Foldables; 4) Gallery Walk/Pass the Envelope-A cause or effect is given and students either rotate around the room or pass the problem from group to group to identify possible causes or effects; 5) Trading Cards-One cause or one effect is given on a card to each student. They develop an opposite idea for what they have and walk around the room to share. After sharing they trade cards to share with another. Cue Words: therefore, consequently, thus, as a result of, since, because, in order to, if…then Language Frames & Graphic Organizers: Language of Explaining Causes Even though many people thought the cause was …, I believe it was… The most likely reason for… was… I hypothesize that… made them… That wasn’t caused by …because Several factors contributed to the outcome. Namely, … Language of Describing an Effect ____ was a result of… The…led to…, which led to… The change resulted in… It combines with…to produce… Sweetwater District-Wide Academic Support Teams, October 2010 *( from K. Kinsella) 16 Academic Language Development Observation Feedback Tool Daily Learning Target included the following components: Bloom’s Taxonomy (verb) Content (subject-specific) Activity Product / outcome/ assessment Academic Language Function (circle) Inquiry (Observe and explore the environment, acquire information, inquire) Summarizing Informing (Identify, report or describe information) Comparing Contrasting (Describe similarities and differences in objects or ideas Ordering Sequencing Classify Analyzing Inferring Predicting Hypothesizing Justifying Persuading Problem Solving Synthesizing Evaluating Cause and Effect Academic Vocabulary and Discourse observed: Academic Vocabulary Explicit, direct instruction (*bricks and mortar) Visuals, realia (images, word walls, student work) Clarification (of unfamiliar words) Academic Discourse Modeling (usage of word form) Sentence frame use by students Dialogue based on graphic organizers Use of appropriate register Paired discussion Oral presentations Structured discussion Open-ended discussion Linked to the DLT Student response to, “What are you learning?” tied to the Daily Learning Target. 1 - Student response unrelated to DLT 2 - Student response somewhat related to DLT 3 - Student response directly related to DLT Comments: _________________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________ Sweetwater District-Wide Academic Support Teams, October 2010 *( from K. Kinsella) 17 Student Discussion Guide Student Discussion Guide Ground Rules for Class Discussion Language Class Discussion Sentence Starters 1. Be prepared to share your idea when instructed to do so, first with your partner and next with the class. 2. No blurting (ever) or hand raising (until I ask for volunteers). Soliciting a Response What do you think? We haven’t heard from you yet. Do you agree? What answer did you get? ___ 3. Use the assigned sentence starter to share your idea. 4. Use your public discussion voice to share your idea: two times slower and three times louder than conversation. 5. Listen attentively while classmates are sharing and jot down new ideas. 6. If your idea is similar to someone else’s, acknowledge your classmate’s contribution before sharing your idea. Language Class Discussion Sentence Starters Expressing an Opinion I think/believe that . . . In my opinion . . . Based on my experience, I think . . . Predicting I predict/imagine that . . . Based on . . ., I infer that . . . I hypothesize that . . . Asking for Clarification What do you mean? Will you explain that again? I have a question about that. Paraphrasing So you are saying that . . . In other words, you think . . . What I hear you saying is . . . Acknowledging Ideas My idea is similar to/related to I agree with (a person) that . . . My idea builds upon ____’s idea. Reporting a Partner’s Idea ____ indicated that . . . ____ pointed out to me that . . . ____ emphasized that . . . ____ concluded that . . . Reporting a Group’s Idea We decided/agreed that . . . We concluded that . . . Our group sees it differently. We had a different approach. Disagreeing I don’t agree with you because . . . I got a different answer than you. I see it another way. Offering a Suggestion Maybe we could . . . What if we . . . Here’s something we might try. Affirming That’s an interesting idea. I hadn’t thought of that. I see what you mean. Holding the Floor As I was saying, . . . If I could finish my thought . . . What I was trying to say was . . . SUHSD/Special Services (msg) (adapted from Kate Kinsella 8/07) Sweetwater District-Wide Academic Support Teams, October 2010 *( from K. Kinsella) 18 Teacher Academic Language Guide Teacher Academic Language Guide Structured Practice with Vocabulary Steps to Introduce New Vocabulary WORD WALL Activities 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Pronounce the Word Example of the Word Part of Speech Representation Use routine written format (4-Square, etc.) Linguistically (or other) Speaking! _________________________________ _________________________________ Steps in Structuring an Academic Class Discussion Classroom Partnering Recommendations 1. Pose a concrete discussion task on the board and clarify the expectations for task completion. 2. If the question/task is open-ended, allow students time to jot down a few possible ideas before assigning a starter. 3. Assign a sentence starter including target lesson vocabulary. 4. Model a response using the starter and point out the grammatical expectations for sentence completion. 5. Give students adequate time to write a complete response. 6. Cue students to share responses with an assigned partner. To increase active listening, ask them to paraphrase their partner’s idea before adding it to their list. 7. Monitor students’ writing and “nominate” one or two volunteers to jump-start the discussion. 8. Assign a listening and note-taking task for the discussion. Classroom Seating Arrangement Rows – one partner to the left and one partner behind Chevron – one partner to the side and one behind Assigning Appropriate Partners Consider the following variables when determining appropriate partners: English communicative competence, including speaking and listening English reading and writing proficiency (consider data from CELDT, CSTs, etc.) Subject matter knowledge’ Performance on assigned tasks to date in the class Personality traits: reserved, insecure, extroverted, class clown, domineering, etc. TIPS: Don’t put high students with low students in terms of academic competence Rank your students numerically from highest (1, 2, 3) to lowest (28, 29, 30). 1. is paired with 16. 3. is paired with 18. 15. is paired with 30. 9. Randomly call on students before inviting volunteers. 10. Validate contributions, then establish clear connections to the lesson content/task. SUHSD/Special Services (msg) Sweetwater District-Wide Academic Support Teams, October 2010 Designate two “floaters” who are in the middle, flexible, reliable, friendly and socially competent to assign when there is an absence. (adapted from Kate Kinsella, 8/07) *( from K. Kinsella) 19
